Polly: An Opera: Die Opern der Welt

by John Christopher Pepusch, John Gay

Trapes. There it is now! Whoever heard a man of fortune in England talk of the necessaries of life? If the necessaries of life would have satisfy'd such a poor body as me, to be sure I had never come to mend my fortune to the Plantations. Whether we can afford it or no, we must have superfluities. We never stint our Expence to our own fortunes, but are miserable, if we do not live up to the profuseness of our neighbours.

Genres: Plays, Classics

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1729

Reviews

[Ellie Kidger · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was interesting to read as a piece of 18th century theatre, but it has not aged well. Whereas The Beggar's Opera tackled class and crime, Polly uses colonialism as a tool to rehash the love triangle of its predecessor. I liked how pirates were used, but the depiction of the Native Americans felt dodgy at best. Also, the leading man is literally a white guy in blackface. Not a good look.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I looked for this for a long time after seeing a reference, almost as an aside, in a book on English literature. Who knew there was a sequel to "The Beggar's Opera"?? We find out what happens to Macheath and his wives Polly Peachum and Jenny Diver. They go to the West Indies in the late 1720s! Macheath has been sent as an indentured servant to work on a plantation but, before the story begins, he's escaped. Thought dead, he's actually put on blackface and exists as an escaped slave and pirate captain named Morano. Only Jenny, exiled to the Indies with him, is aware of this. When Polly sails from England to find her long-lost and utterly faithless true love (her father, one of the key figures of "The Beggar's Opera", has died in the interim), she ends up getting robbed aboard ship and arriving penniless. An old friend sells her as a slave to a lascivious planter. She resists, escapes, disguises herself as a young man, attracts the lascivious attention of Jenny Diver, and joins a tribe of local Indians fighting against pirates and a slave revolt.

"Polly" isn't as funny as "The Beggar's Opera" -- the satirical tone gets less and less pointed, and the character of Polly is finally almost tragic at the end, though Macheath remains a living social commentary all the way through, insisting that the only difference between him and Alexander the Great is that the latter was more successful. I'd love to see this performed some time--and of course, reading the text doesn't give more than a vague sense of the songs, since the words are there but not the music.

[Adam Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a re-read to get the plot. What struck me was that the play was much less funny but the satire more bitter. Apart from the prologue, which is better than ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ the play is generally not as good. Of course not, it’s a sequel.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so unlike The Beggar's Opera that I was left a little disappointed afterward. It wasn't as satiric; however, I was entertained by some of the lines and the character development.